Disaster planning approaches in Iran's health system: A mixed-methods study

Disaster planning and management pose a serious challenge to most countries. These challenges point to insufficient planning to deal with these events. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the methods and characteristics of the decision‑making approaches in these events. In this study, we tried to identify most appropriate approaches for the Iranian health system by studying disaster planning approaches.

This study was conducted using mixed methods in 2020–2021 in two phases: qualitative and quantitative. First, we reviewed at the research literature. Our goal was to identify studies that suggested approaches to disaster planning. The next step in this study was a qualitative study using semi‑structured interviews. Participants in qualitative phase included managers and employees from different parts of the Iranian health system from the provinces of Golestan, Fars, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kerman, Sistan, and Baluchestan.

By combining approaches taken from literature reviews and qualitative study, four main approaches were identified. The results of our study have shown that disaster response planning approaches include function, risk assessment, capability, and futuristic base.

This study provides complete overview of disaster planning approaches that enable health professionals to use them to develop response plans. Our findings indicate that in complex and large‑scale events such as floods and pandemics, it is necessary to combine the introduced methods for operational planning.